Earlier this week, a City crew installed new signs at Fountain City Lake to remind visitors that feeding the wrong food to the lake's ducks is harmful - both to them and to the lake's water quality.
Lots of families enjoy feeding the waterfowl. But they should refrain from bringing bread, grain or pet food from home. Instead, the ducks should be fed the food pellets available at lakeside dispensers.
Overfeeding the ducks, and especially feeding them the wrong food, can lead to bird diseases and unsanitary conditions for pedestrians, pets and fish. Plus, excessive bird fecal matter in the water is a leading cause of problematic algae being created.
Many Knoxville families deeply cherish Fountain City Lake. The City has invested more than $260,000 in the last two years to repair and modernize the lake’s infrastructure.
If you're interested in what's been done to improve the lake, what's scheduled to happen next, and how the community can get involved to add new park amenities, then you'll want to attend a public meeting at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 25, at the Lions Club Building, Fountain City Park, 5345 N. Broadway.
Project managers with environmental engineering firm LDA Engineering will present a design to Lions Club members, Fountain City residents and lake stakeholders for a new wetland area in the northern end of the lake – eliminating a shallow, stagnant zone of water that’s been conducive to thick algae growing. The wetland also will provide more shading to help lower water temperature – also useful in deterring algae – while providing a natural vegetative buffer that will reduce algae-feeding nutrients and filter pollutants.
In the past two years, the City and its contractors have repaired a leak in the earthen berm that surrounds the lake. Crews have repeatedly drained, cleaned, treated and taken measurements of the lake, and inappropriate species of fish have been relocated. Algaecide has been sparingly added.
Also, the lake's fountain is again operational - for the first time in several years.
Work this month is being completed on the lake’s fountain system and pumphouse to increase aeration, which will add oxygen to the water, agitate the water surface and reduce stagnation – all helpful in combating the algae growth that’s marred the lake for many years. In addition, the improved apparatus will be able to discharge out the dirtiest water from the bottom of the lake as well as provide a surface skimmer to collect and release floating algae and debris.
City engineers say the horizontal streams from the fountain are doing a great job circulating water. In the coming days, they'll be finetuning the fountainhead to improve the aesthetics of the vertical steam.
Here's what the now-functioning fountain looks like:
Anyone needing a disability accommodation to attend the Aug. 25 meeting should contact the City’s ADA Coordinator, Stephanie Cook, at [email protected] or 865-215-2034. For an English interpreter, contact the City Law Department at 865-215-2050.